On Being Strange V

By Jill E., Randolph, MA

There are many people in the country today who, through no fault of their own, are sane. Some are born sane, some become sane later in life, but it is up to us, people who are out of our tiny, little minds, to help them," so said the late, great Graham Chapman, in a skit from "Monty Python's Flying Circus."

Does anyone fully realize the strain put on people in today's society to be normal, sane, sensible and to blend in with the crowd? Does anyone realize how it feels to have people look at you like you have something dreadfully wrong with you when you laugh for what seems to be no apparent reason, but you really are just remembering something funny that happened earlier that day? Or to have people say you're messed because you once gave your gerbils a bath or because you speak to your dog in French? Or that people call you weird because when you were little you used to wonder how the men who you thought sat down on the road to paint the lines kept from getting hit by cars? Or how about when people say that you're not well because when you watch Tom & Jerry, you often find yourself actually feeling for the characters, saying, "Oh, that poor cat. Gee, I hope he's all right."?

But, you have to feel sorry for people who don't like you because you're strange. I mean, their lives must by excruciatingly dull. To go to school everyday, being sure not to walk in any way that could be construed as silly, paying strict attention in class to keep yourself from being distracted by thoughts like how the Boogeyman got his name ( was it a nickname given to him by a fellow monster or was it just his mother's maiden name?). And what makes a person want to become a guidance counselor, is it the glory?

Basically, putting on a fa!ade of conformity, going to college when you'd really rather hitchhike across Albania, becoming a quantity surveyor when you really dream of the adventure of being a dogcatcher. Just another person in a country full of people trying to be what they are not, for fear that no one will like the person they are. n